Jameis Winston’s four starts for the New York Giants made one thing clear: he’s not the answer as a starting quarterback at this stage of his career. But that hasn’t made him any less valuable to a team that has needed steady voices through a season of constant change and injury trouble.
That’s the part of Winston’s game that still matters most in New York. Even after he was officially moved out of the starting role for J.J.
McCarthy in Week 7, Winston has stayed in the mix as a veteran presence the Giants can lean on. It’s a big reason the team brought him back on a contract extension this offseason.
Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy laid out exactly why Winston matters beyond the box score during an appearance on "The Schrager Hour" with Peter Schrager this week. Nagy described a moment that captured Winston’s approach after losing the job.
""The day he is told he is not the starter, which was in the morning, later on that day, I walk by the hallway downstairs. He's running a meeting with just two people: Him and J.J.
[McCarthy] are in there watching third downs. And I'm just saying to myself, 'That's the stuff that people don't see.'""
Matt Nagy on "The Schrager Hour"
For a young quarterback, the environment around him can shape the outcome just as much as raw talent does. The league has plenty of these so-called reclamation projects, and McCarthy fits that mold in New York.
He is getting help from multiple angles, and Winston is part of that support system. It’s not just about the players around McCarthy or the coaching staff guiding him. The veteran in the room matters too, and Winston has embraced that responsibility instead of sulking over the benching.
That kind of response makes him worth his contract, even if his contributions now come in limited snaps, including quarterback sneaks.
And McCarthy does appear to be benefiting from it. In his first five quarters with the Giants, he looked calmer and more in control than he ever did with the Minnesota Vikings. He completed nearly every throw asked of him and kept the ball out of danger for the most part.
If McCarthy keeps building on that start and helps New York reach the playoffs, the easy story will be that he rescued the Giants from the mess Winston left behind at quarterback. But that would miss the bigger point. Winston’s influence behind the scenes may have helped set up the bounce-back the Giants are seeing now.
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